A crisp peach day breaks misty over the solar panel farm and despite the strict fences and ‘Danger Keep Out!’, hares hop free and birds perch on the smooth black slabs, frosted at the edges. Out of the pastel blur, tiny flocks of ducks and pigeons swoop across the living watercolour.
In this present moment my mind is clean, clear, beautiful and pure. There is no other moment than the simple crunching of aspen leaves under my boots, and the softly lit golden outlines of warm sheep grazing the water meadow.
That’s why I have to walk in the sharp frosty morning to see myself clearly.
Discomfort in the chrysalis of my morning mind dissolves and regrows into unimaginable new forms just by stepping outside: Nature, my teacher, unravels the knots of ‘not knowing’.
What’s happening with the Clarity herbs at Brookside Farm this winter?
- Crisply frosted Egyptian peppermint has still to be pruned and go to sleep till March.
- Warming Hawthorn berries inside their frozen red skins cling to the branches in the same formation as the clusters of blossoms from May.
- Ferny fronds of Cow Parsley leaves lie low to the ground till Spring.
- Blackthorn still bares blue-purple sloes capped with white crystals and mapped like a whale’s back.
- Aged Nettle is lanky and leggy, standing guard over it’s new baby leaves nestled on the ground.
Hawthorn - Crataegus crataegus
Eye catching red Hawthorn berries cluster in springy arches over the beehives in the corner of the meadow. When the bees are quiet on a cold morning, I make sure to pick a few and nibble the mild creamy flesh from around the hard pip - like a miniature apple - to top up on heart-healthy foraged food.
We have two varieties growing on the farm - some of the berries are as fat as small cherries with two small stones inside, and others are more slender with only one. They come in all shades of crimson and are irresistible to pick.
But what can you do with them?
We have made hedgerow ketchup and hedgerow jam, syrup and fruit leather by adding in a few extra ingredients:
Next to them grow equally beautiful blue-purple sloes on the Blackthorn bushes, and tiny golden crab apples which will still be clinging to their bare branches well into winter. A few frosts have sweetened them all up, and filling baskets with apples, sloes and hawthorns is a little Autumn joy of ours.
There is much folklore around the Hawthorn tree, including a solitary tree being a home for fairy folk that should never be disturbed. It is renowned as a therapeutic herb for the heart, helping with both high and low blood pressure and on an emotional level easing a grieving heart, and keeping it in a happy state.
When the hawthorn blossoms in May, we will pick and distill them to capture the almond flavour and therapeutic properties of this generous native tree.
Try for yourself
You can try our Clarity blend for yourself in our mini bottle, 500ml daily ritual bottle or as part of our three-bottle gift set with the other blends: Calm and Courage. We'd love to know what you think.
